Rhian Seren
Information Name: Rhian Seren Nickname: N/A Age: 23 D.O.B.: August 8th Hair Color: Dirty Blonde Eye Color: Green-blue Favorite Color: Dark Red Favorite Food: N/A Hobbies: Reading, writing, singing, and Kayaking Career Dream: To make a living as an author and to contribute to beating cancer Worst Fears: Someone being hurt because of her, being forgotten, and being dragged down in murky water. History Rhian had moved from England to study medicinal chemistry to help find a cure for cancer with her best friend, Helen. She had lost many friends to this disease, and has dedicated her life to make sure it doesn't happen again. Upon hearing about the Red Death was unfortunate, since there has been deaths around her campus, and she had happened to be caught in the middle of it. He had came upon the campus, knowing not only her name, but her special nickname her family gave her. And it was then, her brother's life was hanging on the line who happened to try to make a surprise visit from England. Now, Rhian must attend the ball or her brother won't live to see another day. Victim in Holding: Her brother, Gareth Dress and Mask ((website link to dress)) http://www.alibaba.com/product-gs/281702587/Fashion_maggie_new_long_red_ball/showimage.html Rhian's Prologue Masque of the Red Death Rhian Seren The readout in front of me blinked as my experiment started to run. I'd been working since 9 a.m. and it was now well into the dead hours of the night. The department had lapsed into its slumber gradually, so that now only me and a few other night owls were left to make the most of the free equipment time. Not that I really had a choice. I'd been in Kite City University for almost six months now and was fast reaching the end of my placement. Considering the effort it had taken to get funds for me to leave England and get access to KCU's new chemistry department's state of the art facilities, my supervisor would be rather unimpressed if I hadn't made significant progress on my Ph.D when I returned. I leant back on the stool with a groan, rolling my neck around and rubbing it tiredly. It wasn't that I regretted coming to Kite City, far from it. It had been a fantastic experience for a country bumpkin like me to see such a city and the university itself was a buzzing hive of activity, full of friendly faces; many of whom I now considered close friends. No sooner had I thought that than my phone began to buzz in my pocket. "Evening Helen," I answered without even glancing at the screen. "Am I really that predictable?" I heard my housemate laugh. "It's nearly midnight on a Thursday, who else would it be? Penny's always at Rock Night and Jane isn't back from her folks' for another week. I knew it would my surrogate mum calling me home!" "Ha ha veh-ry funny," Helen said sarcastically, before her tone changed, "Rhian, please tell me you're not intending to cross campus on your own again?" "But it's a five minute walk!" "You… you obviously don't watch the news in your lab, then." I was used to these arguments and had been ready to field everything she could say until that, it almost sounded like she was going to cry. "Helen, Helen what's happened?" "It's him," she whispered, "He killed a freshman on campus last night, the mayor's son. They only just announced it on the news." My stomach dropped, I knew who 'him' was, you'd know after a day here let alone months. The Red Death: a terrible murderer stalking the city's rich and powerful and killing them in the most brutal of ways. The police were baffled, especially as to the true identity of his seemingly glowing dagger that he used to slit his victims to ribbons. The chosen moniker fit him well for when he was done nothing was left but 'the redness and the horror of blood'; exactly as Poe had put it. I'd never had the stomach to watch one of the videos leaked to the media but I heard Penny watching one and the sounds of the screams and that deadly voice announcing that title kept me awake for days. "Rhian? Did you hear me?" Helen asked. "Yes, yes, sorry I heard. I can't believe it! I thought campus was so secure!" "It used to be and they've got cops patrolling everywhere now but, listen, they've said for anyone walking home to call the Uni security office and they'll send someone to escort you back. The number's everywhere round the departments. Please, please do it… I don't want to be hearing it was you tomorrow." "I promise," I said and really meant it, "Despite what you think I'm not that stupid!" My words were gratified with a tearful chuckle. "You're not stupid just lacking in common sense sometimes! I'll let you get back to beating cancer then, that's something I do want you in the news for!" I laughed; we were back on familiar territory. Helen and I had both lost several people we loved to cancer and though it had pushed her into nursing, rather than medicinal chemistry, we both had a shared goal and respect which had cemented our friendship. Repeating my promise, I hung up the phone and glanced back at the computer displaying my readout. It was nearly complete and so I hit the command to abort and save the data early, I'd strangely enough lost the desire for working late since the news. My warm bed behind a locked door was a very comforting thought with a madman like the Red Death about and I leant down to begin packing my bag… just as the lights went out. "Shit!" I shot bolt upright, worried that my data would have been erased by yet another power cut but the pale blueish light of the monitor bathed my face and I soon realised that it was only the lights that had blown. "Such language, baby!" came a gravelly chuckle from over by the door… just where the light switches were, "And what's a pretty, little girl doing working so late at night hmm? After all… there are so many worse ways to die than mere cancer." I whirled towards the intruder so fast that my stool went to ground with an ear splitting clatter but my thundering heart drowned out all other noise to me. Years of singing without reading music had given me a very good ear and if there was one thing I knew it was voices. I'd only ever heard a voice like that once. I suddenly felt acutely vulnerable highlighted by the light of the computer in the otherwise impenetrable darkness and stepped quickly backwards, away from the light, away from him and away from my only possible exit. He laughed outright at this and the sound was like ice down my spine. "You can't hide from me, Rhian. Not after I've gone to such trouble to find you." I was too terrified to speak, let alone question how he knew my name and my terror only trebled as I heard soft footfalls padding towards me. "You're not scared already are you, baby? I thought you were brave but I haven't even introduced myself yet." "I know who you are!" I said damning myself for falling for the bait as I walked blindly backwards until I hit the wall, "Or at least what you call yourself, Red Death." "Very good!" he purred with another deadly chuckle, over the sound of sarcastic applause, "No introductions necessary then… we can get straight to business." My blood turned to ice and I stared wildly into the darkness. A tall figure suddenly walked in front of the monitor, its light glinting off what looked like a shiny, expensively cut leather coat but I could make out nothing more. Panic stricken, I felt around to the edge of the nearest table and began to edge myself back round towards the door, as slowly as I dared, but I had the eerie feeling his eyes were following my every move. "Dear me, leaving so soon, little star? I haven't even told you what our business is yet!" I gaped at his silhouette possibly more terrified by how he knew my nickname than by the fact he knew my name, which would have been trivial by comparison to obtain. I didn't answer though, gambling on him not being able to see exactly where I was. My stomach dropped though as I saw a pale orange glow beginning where his hand must be. The dagger's heated remotely, I thought; shocked at my own mind's capacity for calmness in the face of being brutally murdered. "You're being a very rude star," he warned, the dagger now red hot and he suddenly turned to swipe the computer with it, cutting it in two with a shower of blue sparks and plunging us into further darkness, "Anyone would think you feared cancer more than me…" I swallowed; the moment he'd lashed out I'd searched for a weapon, my hand landing on one of the abandoned girders from the latest renovations of the lab. Against a dagger that could cut through electronics like they were butter, I doubted it would be of any use, but I was damned if I was going to let him kill me without a fight. He was silent, but moving slowly closer as I could see from the dagger, which was now the only source of light. It swung backwards and forwards as if to some half remembered tune, then it was suddenly darting for my throat. I didn't think as I swung the girder. There was a dull slap as metal met leather but his momentum carried him into me anyway. The air was crushed from my lungs and I felt a sharp, burning pain along my shoulder. Screaming, I twisted away and fell to the floor, dropping the girder. A hiss of breath behind me, of pain or anger, I didn't wait to find out as I was on my feet again and running for the dim light of the now unblocked door. I've never been a fast runner but then I'd never run for my life before and suddenly felt I could outstrip the wind. My brain was moving almost as fast and I whipped out my access card as the security door at the end of the corridor loomed and went to swipe it. The card reader was a ruined melt of plastic on the wall and the door hung open to the rest of the building. "You've got the rhyme wrong," the Red Death shouted after me, "It's rabbits that run and stars that stay put and twinkle!" I didn't look back and tore through door after door, all of which had been melted through in the same way. My shoulder burned and my breath tore out in rags but the open doors at least meant I didn't have to work the temperamental locks. Funny that the murderer's entrance had become my escape. Yet even as I neared the exit, I could here the rhythmic almost effortless sound of him chasing me. He was gaining. The main doors to the building loomed at the top of the stairs and I ran up them nearly crying with relieve. I slammed into the right one expecting it to give as all the others had, only to rebound painfully. That's when I realised I was trapped. The metal of the doors had been welded together. Fear taking over logic, I dove into the night warden's office, only to step into a pool of bright red ooze. I swallowed bile and covered my mouth as Martin grinned back at me from below his mouth, the security screens spattered with flecks of gore. Fighting the urge to faint or throw up I threw myself through the door to the surveillance footage store and ran to the fire exit only to find that it had been given a similar treatment. I could hear him in the foyer now and I sank slowly to the floor with the realisation that he had planned all this, even my running. I would not get past him again. He was singing. I could here that before he entered Martin's office but I didn't realise what it was until he came closer. "Twinkle, twinkle little star, How I wonder where you are, Though you went and tried to fly, I will now still here you cry, Twinkle, twinkle little star, I know exactly where you are." I shivered uncontrollably and turned to face the door as it opened and I met the Red Death face-to-face. "You shouldn't have run star." I couldn't believe my eyes, he was the most terrifying thing I'd ever seen, his skin was red and leathery and his hair was done in what look like purple dreads but it was his eyes, all liquid gold and malice that frightened me most. "What do you want with me?" I gasped. "Who says I want anything from you?" he purred, his sharp teeth moving into a mirthless grin. "You seem to have spent a pretty long time trapping me! And… Martin… poor Martin." "Yes, Martin… Messy." The last word was said with sickly satisfaction and I nearly lost control of my stomach again. "Aren't you forgetting something else?" he asked, I stared at him blankly and he smirked, "Star?" The nickname. I could just about accept that he could know my given name what with university records and Facebook almost readily accessible nowadays but that name was so close to my heart. True, my surname meant that in my mother tongue but it was more, a child's chosen name that had stuck. Not even my family knew I still held it dear to me. "How…?" "That would be telling, wouldn't it? Let's just say I have my means." I wanted to shout at him, to demand he tell me but my eyes were suddenly drawn to the dagger that was now burning at his side again. "Oh my God," I gasped, covering my mouth. The answer to the police's biggest confusion about the murders was right in front of me. It wasn't a dagger at all but a claw. It was part of him. The Red Death wasn't some human mass murderer but something else far darker that I couldn't even begin to comprehend. "He can't hear you," purred the monster, snaking closer one step at a time, "Only me" "What d… do you want?" I repeated, angry at myself for stuttering. He was right in front of me now and I tried to shrink back into the sealed door as he lifted a lock of my tussled golden hair from my face with his claw, filling the air with the smell of burnt hair as his eyes locked with mine again. "Tell me star, do you dance as well as you sing?" Asking about his knowledge of my choir seemed paltry now given the rest of his knowledge but the question had me spinning as I was certain that it was death not dancing which he meant for my rapidly shrinking future. He gave me another sly smirk and it sparked my temper. "I'm passable," I growled, still fighting the tremor in my voice, "But I only dance with nice men and I doubt you're either." The claw was suddenly right over my left eye so close I didn't dare move, even to blink. "Careful, careful," he growled, "Be nice now star or I will make you fit your name most aptly," he said, his voice filled with eerie calm. The heat was making my eye water and slowly he withdrew it only to slash viciously at my uninjured shoulder, "To match the other cut, and to make up for the girder." I hissed through my teeth and made to raise my other hand to check the cut but suddenly his o hands seized both my wrists and he backed me even further into the door. I gulped and met his eyes again; Byron's Tyger would have had nothing on his gaze. "All this rudeness, do they not teach British girls how to behave these day?" he asked tauntingly, but all I did was scowl trying to hold my tongue, "But to business little star, I find myself the host of a ball at Prospero Castle tomorrow and I think you'd make a lovely… sparkling addition to the guest list." "You stalked me and murdered Martin to invite me to a ball?" I hissed incredulously. "Indeed," he smirked, "You almost made it too easy, so predictable." "You are truly out of your mind if you think I'll come." "Oh but you will, after all it's a masquerade and I do know how you love those… you even have the perfect mask." His hand slipped from my wrist, I narrowly resisted the insane thought to slap him as he reached inside his coat and pulled out an object I knew well and treasured. A gold and red half mask patterned in gold glitter and decorated with a plume of dark red and pink feathers off to one side, a finishing exams present from my undergrad days which had seen a few masked dinners and a ball in its time. I shuddered to think that the creep had been in my house, in my room to collect this and I knew for certain it was mine from the different ribbons I'd put in. "Full of fire and shining light," he whispered, "No wonder you like it." "Give it back! How dare you steal it in the first place!" I snarled snatching it. "Temper, temper! I didn't steal it, I borrowed to persuade you; you can't tell me you're not dying to wear it again and to a proper ball this time, none of this modern dance but waltzing and conversation with other fine guests." My eyes widened. How could the Red Death possibly know I'd craved this for years since receiving the mask? The same way he knew your name star, I thought, damn him! "I'm not going to play your games," I hissed, "If you're going to kill me, do it now, don't dress it up with false beauty and promises and call it charity." "You really don't want to turn me down, baby. After all, it's not just you, your family will suffer for it." My heart clenched as if he'd wrapped his claws around it and for a sickening moment I would have fallen to my knees and begged but I had to steady myself. "You can't hurt them," I said almost deceiving myself with how confident I sounded, "They're many miles away in England, I doubt even your influence stretches that far Red Death." "So sure," he purred, "Oh baby, you're not going to like this then." He pulled out a sleek black phone and punched in a few numbers before turning the speaker towards me. 'Hey Rhi, you still OK for me to visit?' My mouth fell open as my brother Gareth's voice sounded from the phone. 'Yeah sure, it would be great to have you here but you might want to wait until next month though as the tickets are bound to be extortionate last minute.' My voice. I remembered the conversation well it had happened two weeks ago on Skype. The thought again struck me about how many resources this murderer had and how far in advance he'd planned. Had he hacked my computer? "Care to rethink your position?" the Red Death asked, pausing the playback. "He's not even here yet!" I shouted, glad that he had slipped up, "He would have told me!" "Unless he wanted it to be a surprise and asked your housemate instead to make sure you'd be around? His plane landed this morning." My world spun and I leant my head back against the door gulping for air to stop myself from blacking out. No! Nononononono! my mind kept repeating but I had to ask the next question. "Where is he now?" That horrible evil smirk filled my vision again as he dialled a number and raised the phone to his head. "Hello Seren, I'm just having a nice little chat with your delightful sister here. She was just asking how you were." He turned to me with a deep chuckle and punched the speakerphone button. My precious mask hit the floor as my hands fell forgotten to my sides. "Rhian? Rhian?" the fear in my brother's voice came over the phone even though I could tell he was trying to hide it, "Don't listen to him! Don't do anything he tells you! I… I'll be fine." "Gareth what's he done to you? Where are you?" "I don't know! They knocked me out and I'm blindfolded and tied up. I've got no idea… but… but it smells of… of…" "Blood," finished the Red Death, as he hung up the phone, and place his hands either side of my head, "He's in my oubliette where I do all my best work. I would have cleaned up for his visit but gore is so difficult to get out or stone work and the smell always seems to linger…" "Shut up! Shut up please! Please let him go, you have to let him go!" I screamed shaking my head rapidly and catching my hair on a smooth chain he had wrapped round his wrist. "And why should I do that? He'd make such a lovely new addition to my growing fans. In fact, there's a little camera right in front of him all ready to go. I might even head back there now…" "No, no please!" I gasped grabbing the collar of his coat with shaking hands, "He's my little brother. You can't! I'll do anything you ask!" "Even be dragged down to drown in the murky depths?" he asked sweetly revelling in my debasement, "Even to die alone but able to watch as all your friends and family forgot you'd ever existed?" My mind fell to a juddering halt at this. My worst nightmares, how could know? They hadn't haunted me for years but those fears had stayed with me to the point that I could never swim through murky water and not have the terrible expectation that drowned hands were going to reach up and pull me down to them. The sharp lines of his coat blurred through a mist of tears as I looked up slowly. "Yes, even that," I conceded. "Good. Then go home," he purred, stroking down my cheek with the claw which no longer burned, as I looked up sharply at his words, "Take your mask with you and head back to your lovely art filled room and open the present you'll find on your bed. It's in your size and there are shoes to match, you already have the perfect mask and I'm sure you can handle make up, hair and jewellery," he chuckled as if he knew how much jewellery I had, then became serious once more, "Wear gold, you'll be a perfect little star and will be outside your house tomorrow at 6.30 for the transport I will send. If you don't turn up, or tell anyone where you're going I will know and then your precious little brother will burn in your place and to him I will not be so kind." My eyes filled with tears once more and I couldn't help but shudder at how he said burn. "It will be the biggest event of your life, I've been so selective with the guest list and yet I still don't here a thank you." "I am to thank you for what is likely to be the last event of my life?" I asked tremulously. "Now that would be spoiling the surprise," he said with a grin that held no warmth and eyes that knew no kindness. "But will you let my brother go when I come?" "Of course. You can trust me to keep my word," he said, I lowered my head and nodded slowly, I really had no other choice, "Good, until tomorrow then, star, now hurry on home, it's past your bedtime." The mask was suddenly put back in my hand and I felt a searing heat as he reached past me to the sealed door. I nearly fell through but righted myself and turned enough to see him put on a pair of shades and raise his hand before the door closed and he was lost from sight. I walked home in a state of shock, barely aware of the cold or the occasional police patrol giving me a strange look. Helen was asleep on the sofa as I came in but for a change I did not wake her and wandered up to my room. The door was locked but whether that comforted me or made it worse I could not say as I fished my keys out of my pocket and let myself in. There was a box on my bed, red with a black ribbon. I opened it warily and pulled our a beautiful gown in ruby red satin with gold detailing on the front and a daring slit which would expose most of one leg up to the knee. It was not really my style but my legs were my best feature and beneath the folds of crepe paper lay golden, high-heeled, Greek-style sandals meant to lace partway up the shins. All in all the outfit would be stunning but I noticed a note at the bottom written in elegant cursive. "Don't think you'll be able to run in this, little star." I knew I would not be able to sleep after that and I moved round my room in a daze picking out things for the next day. Then I saw the bunch of feathers lying on my vanity in orange, scarlet and crimson and remembered the Red Death's ominous words about burning. I'd bought the feathers to decorate a card for a friend but now I sat in front of my mirror, combing and plaiting and pinning not sure of what I wanted to achieve until the finished thing. Feathers the colour of fire drifted in a few plaits over my shoulders while the rest of my hair was pinned up and tucked with more. I looked like phoenix, the bird born from the ashes of it's own grief and death and I knew that the dress and the mask would only intensify this impression. It may have only been a symbol but I knew I was going to need all the help I could get the next evening in facing the Red Death.